Mindfulness and Hypnotherapy

In the last few years there’s been a awful lot of hype around the concept of mindfulness. Once reserved for Buddhist monks with years of training sat silently in contemplation and meditation, suddenly anyone can practise mindfulness - you can even see a mindfulness teacher on the NHS in some areas.

So what exactly is mindfulness? How is it linked to hypnotherapy?

Mindfulness is a form of waking meditation i.e. you remain conscious and active. It’s a way of focusing your attention fully in the present moment, thereby releasing yourself from past worry and regret and future apprehension or anticipation. This process allows you to get to know yourself on a deeper level and allows you to enjoy your life more, rather than focusing on stuff that’s happened that you can’t change, or stuff that you’re worried might happen in the future.

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Try mindfulness now, for yourself:

Simply take a moment to become aware of your body and your breathing. Notice how your skin feels - is it warm? cold? Are there any areas of tension in your body? What thoughts are you thinking. Focus only on what you’re doing and feeling right now. This is mindfulness.

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This technique of mindfulness goes hand in hand with hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapy is, in its most simplistic form, deep relaxation which allows you and the therapist to get in touch with the real you - your inner wisdom and true self, underneath all the layers and personas you may have to take on as ‘friend’, ‘parent’, ‘sibling’ etc. It’s a fantastic tool for accessing what’s always been there and allowing it to come to the surface.

Using a mindful approach to hypnotherapy means that both the therapist and the client remain ever present in the process, aware of exactly how they are feeling and what it going on. When past issues or trauma are stumbled upon, the client is able to differentiate this as past trauma and as such, is more able to look at it with perspective rather than getting involved in the emotions again as if it were happening in the present moment.

Whilst hypnotherapy is thought of in quite clinical terms in today’s practice, and rightly so given the scientific research that has been undertaken in the field, I am pleased that the more ancient, perhaps spiritual practices of meditation and mindfulness have been so readily accepted in the West. After all, most therapists will tell you that everything you need to change is already within you, it’s just a case of becoming more self aware and having some help to access that true, intuitive self.